1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic document request/supply method, and more particularly, to an XML-based electronic document request/supply method.
2. Background of the Related Art
In recent years, an extensible markup language (hereinafter, referred to as “XML”) is widely used to create electronic documents. The utilization of XML increases rapidly throughout the world, and government and public offices as well as general enterprises are increasingly introducing the XML. These electronic documents are generally created on the basis of a syntax prescribed by each organization. Specific languages have been provided for searching XML documents.
However, related art methods for searching or requesting electronic documents have various disadvantages. In a related art method for requesting a supply of the electronic documents using these specific search languages, a user requesting the electronic document should learn an additional search language and—designate a structure of the XML document to be supplied as the search result. Accordingly, the related art methods are ineffective to the user who wants to request and receive the electronic document created based on the previously designated syntax.
Further, in case of using the document requested and supplied in the related art methods, the entire contents provided initially should be transmitted because there is no method of subsequent or additional notifications of contents deleted because of a change of document contents or notifications of invalid contents. The above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background.